


in the midnight hour

by venusses



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: F/F, Slow Burn-ish, Vampire AU, a lot of btvs references, and pop culture vampires in general, and they were ROOMMATES, heavily based on carmilla
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26078188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/venusses/pseuds/venusses
Summary: when evidences of vampirism begins to appear, joohyun discovers her new roommate isn't only supernaturally annoying.vampire!au
Relationships: Bae Joohyun | Irene/Park Sooyoung | Joy
Comments: 3
Kudos: 49





	in the midnight hour

when joohyun’s last roommate bailed her out for physics in another university, the last thing she needed was a new one, you see, her ritualistics and the way she liked her dorm to look like - clean and quiet - were something that wendy, her now ex-roommate, covered up quite nicely, and she didn’t thought someone else could be such a nice company to share the same space with, in fact, she was certain of it. 

since the bar was already so low when it came down to college students, she would rather be alone than adding one more thing to be stressed about in her academic life, but she couldn’t simply have a whole dorm all to herself, the same way any other student couldn’t. 

her ‘new wendy’ was expected around noon and, coming close to that time, joohyun tried to make room on the shelfs and every possible space she would had to soon share again, and when a stranger finally came inside, kinda of kicking its way in, she tried to look like she wasn’t interested, deeping herself more into the book she was holding. 

you could say that the first thing you do when you enter your new room during college year is greet the person who will expend its entirety living in the same space as you, but it seemed like the tall, slender figure dropping harshly her bags on the bed thought otherwise. after unpacking an incredible amount of fancy clothes - she could swear she saw a legit louis vuitton in there - and philosophy books, she cared to spare a look to joohyun.

“hey, you.” said, dismissively, throwing herself onto the bed and opening a book “i'm joy.” and didn’t bother to look up even once when joohyun hey-ed her back. what a prick. 

of course, she wasn’t planning to have a heart-to-heart with her new roommate right away, but she sure as hell didn’t expect _that_. joohyun never have been the talkative type of person, actually, she preferred to spend her time taking care of her own things than to talk to someone else about anything at all, the only person who understood that introverted side of her, besides wendy - whom started to come up at her mind often, since she wasn’t a _jerk_ like this joy -, was seulgi, her only friend. 

the two of them could simply sit down in front of each other at a local coffee and do their own things, mind their own business. if a conversation didn’t come up, it wasn’t weird, and if it did, they could have a nice talk. seulgi was the most kind and hardworking person joohyun ever met, she was always too busy with all the art stuff she was assigned with, but if joohyun ever needed her she would drop everything to help. she was one of the only ones who could see right through joohyun, and after years of friendship, joohyun could do the same, even if her friend was a really, really selfless person who refused to ask for things, ever. 

joohyun refused to make small talk with her, and she was happy to go on with her reading. 

“just give her time, maybe? she could be still trying to adjust to the campus.” seulgi tried to sound sure, while chewing on a buttery croissant. it has been a couple of days since joy moved in, and joohyun tried to stay away from the dorm when her obnoxious roommate was off-class. 

“it seems that she adjusted well enough already, she went out literally every night since she got here.” joohyun simply sipped on her tea.

“it’s more than you ever did in two years on campus.” seulgi giggled, _she’s one to talk._

“yeah, but i mean, is it normal for someone to have the stamina to party until the sun comes up and then sleep all day like this?” she tried to keep her attention on her emily dickinson notes, but joy just bugged her so much. “does she even attend her classes?” 

“probably. since you don’t stick around much she must go while you’re away.” seulgi sighed lightly, her eyes saying _i’m-worried-about-your-hiperfixation-on-your-jerk-rommate._ “is she really that bad?” joohyun prepared herself to ask if her friend wasn’t listening to her last twenty complaints about joy “i mean, besides sleeping all day and totally ignoring you.”

joohyun contemplated the question for a moment. joy, incredibly, kept her side clean, she didn’t make much noise because she never talked to joohyun whatsoever, and maybe that was precisely the problem. having a roommate who refuses to acknowledge her presence in the room bothered her, and she had the right to be bothered by it. 

“i don’t know, she bugs me, that’s all.” said in a lower tone. seulgi smiled softly to her.

“you should cut her some slack, just to see what happens.” suggested while grabbing her cup of coffee.

“just to see what happens.” joohyun agreed. 

joohyun did what seulgi told her, she cutted joy some serious slack. even when she started to drop her clothes everywhere when she arrived as soon as the sun appeared, even when she started to walk around half naked and dripping all over the immaculate floor coming out of the shower, yes, you could say joohyun let a lot pass. joy still didn’t pay her any mind though.

joohyun lost count of the mornings she woke up to a totally darkened room, and it seemed like one of those pitch black mornings again. she was still dizzy from sleep when she observed all the curtains closed and joy tugged on her bed.

she got up to make coffee and maybe let some sun light in on her way, but as soon as she opened one of the curtains fully she heard a weird noise, followed by joy’s high-pitched morning voice. “fucking close it, jesus…”

joohyun, honestly, couldn’t believe how much of an uneducated asshole she was, _fucking close it?_ she turned her back to the windows to face joy’s bed. 

“what the fuck...” joohyun murmured, noticing her annoying roommate hiding underneath her bed, like a child. “what are you doing?”

joy sighed, clearly annoyed, as if hiding under her bed because of daylight was above questioning. “i’m very sensitive to light in the morning” her voice was more steady this time, joohyun’s _hm_ and the amount of brightness still coming out of the window showed that she wasn’t being convincing. “it’s a skin condition, do you want me to have cancer or something? close it.”  
joohyun figured that the ridiculous scene of her roommate hiding wouldn’t come to an end if she didn’t close the curtains, and she had more important things to do than watching it, as much as the thought of going against joy’s wishes entertained her, so she closed it, and joy made her climb of shame up to the bed again. 

she continued on making herself coffee, only noticing that joy didn’t go back to sleep a while after. “don’t you have breakfast?” queried. 

“yep, when i want to.” joy prolonged her _p_ , but didn’t blink on joohyun’s direction. jackass. “why? do you want to bring me breakfast in bed? that’s sweet.” she smirked, and joohyun could almost hear her teeth smashing into each other in annoyance. 

“with cyanide? sure.” she placed her mug on the tiny sink beside her.

joy dropped her book dismissively next to her. “you have something against me, sweetie?” her voice was serious, but joohyun got a glimpse of the ends of her mouth twitching to smile. 

joohyun gulped, she didn’t think that joy would call her out, she looked like the type who played dumb. “you… rub me the wrong way, yes.”

“i could rub you the right way, just ask.” joy said just before getting inside the bathroom, the bathroom where joohyun was about to take a shower to a class that would start in twenty minutes.

“idiot.” 

after that, it seemed like joy stopped annoying joohyun at random and started doing it on purpose instead, enjoying it almost maniacally. she would make a mess with her makeup all over the bathroom’s sink, and then sneak out before joohyun could see it, or even try to get on her nerves by teasing her when seulgi came over. the thing is, joy got in her head that she and seulgi _fucked_ , and it still wasn't clear if she had this idea out of true suspicion or she just really wanted to make everyone uncomfortable with it. 

“hang a sock next time!” joy almost shouted as soon as she entered the door, spotting seulgi sitting next to joohyun on her bed. friday nights were the nights where the two friends would spend time watching things together, and joy knew it by now. she observed the laptop’s screen for a moment “buffy huh? i can see a lot of her in you, sweetie.” teased. 

seulgi gave her a complacent look, as if to calm her down, knowing after a million complaints that joohyun absolutely hated when joy teasingly called her sweet names. 

“don’t you have some party to sneak in?” seulgi tried to draw joy’s attention to someone other than joohyun.

“don’t you have some other room to makeout with your bestie?” joy backtalked, while going through one of the six pairs of heels she had under her bed. she was in the unnerving process of changing to go out. 

joohyun knew better know than start a discussion with joy over her teasing, so she remained quiet, trying to refocus her attention on the notebook sitting on her lap, but her eyes were drought to joy’s figure drinking on some type of green-juice that seemed like the base of her diet, noticing that some drops of the disgusting liquid dropped on her black tank top. 

she smirked on joohyun’s direction, noticing her stare and winking once before taking her tank top off, throwing it on the edge of her bed and walking, with a bra only, her way to the bathroom. 

“can you believe that?” joohyun turned to face seulgi, who had a soft blush on her cheeks. _useless dyke._

she got up to take joy’s filthy clothe off of her bed, only to smell a distingful metallic scent coming from it. the color of it forbade her from seeing the color of the liquid, but she was sure that it wasn’t green-juice. 

the exam week had begun for joohyun and the only good thing about suffocating on books and spending most of her time sitting in the library was that she was far away from the dorm. the convivence between roommates didn’t get any better, and maybe seulgi was right, maybe the more joohyun gave joy a reaction the more she would tease, because that’s how any other jerk on history acted, and by realizing it joohyun actually tried not to give in too easily, but joy’s capacity to annoy kept up with her, and joohyun had to admit, the girl had a talent to push her buttons. 

despite everything joy did to drive her insane, she still couldn’t get off her mind that there was something off with her.

“of course there’s something wrong with joy. probably mommy issues that led her to become a brat.” seulgi half-joked. they were deep in their notes and books for a while when joohyun brought her concerns up. 

“perhaps, but i think it goes farther than this.” she found herself scribbling _daylight, metallic, night_ on the side of the paper. 

“how so?” seulgi turned joohyun’s notebook to herself, reading the three words written with a tiny grin. “daylight, metallic and night… vampirism?”

“what?” she frowned her brows and quickly turned the notes back to its original place, analyzing the words again as if she didn’t realize its real meanings before. 

“hides from daylight, only gets out at night, blood tastes and smells metallic…” seulgi elaborated, shrugging. she acted as if it wasn’t no big deal while joohyun just had her _eureka_ time. “are you reading carmilla for your finals or something?” 

“no. actually, the things you just said… joy did all that.” she whispered the last part without even realizing.

seulgi chuckled slightly “sure.” she had a look of disbelief on her face, but quickly realized that joohyun remained dead serious. “god, you’re for real?” 

“it never crossed my mind, but hearing you listing those things out loud made me think.” she hurried to write _‘vampirism!!!’_ down. 

“i mean, she sure is pale as hell…” seulgi pondered. 

“exactly!” joohyun exclaimed in response, earning a _shhh_ from the librarian old lady.

“i’m joking! you do realize this is crazy, right? joy can be childish and all but she’s human.” stressed, cleaning her coal stained hand briefly before resting it on joohyun’s above the table. “maybe you should stay away from her a little, to clear your thoughts. you could sleep in my dorm tonight.” 

“i already am very much away from her the most i can.” stated, but it didn’t help soften seulgi’s features.

seulgi sighed and recollected her hand back to the chalk she used for drawing. “if you’re so positive of it,” joohyun shooked her head “i guess we could get to the bottom of it.” 

joohyun smiled softly, she really couldn’t get herself a nicer friend. “are you willing to be my willow, then?” 

seulgi rolled her eyes “duh…” 

the next weeks were dedicated to observation and notation, and it - unfortunately - required that joohyun stuck around joy much more than she would’ve liked. she faced those awful times with her roommate as if watching animals in the zoo on those field trips during high school, and without surprise, joy slept a lot and communicated using mostly grunts, which fitted the zoo fantasy just fine. 

_aversion to sunlight._  
_nocturnal habits._  
_the weird green-juice (blood, probably)._  
_pale skin._  
_existentialism (philosophy student who has eternal life)._  
_has a taste for historical fun facts._

joohyun kept herself focused on her laptop, writing things on a document for later search when she felt that weird sensation of someone’s stare.

“are you watching buffy again?” joy asked in a dull tone, the usual tone that marked the times where she got too bored of revising academic stuff and asked questions out of nowhere, even though joohyun was pretty sure she actually didn’t care for her answer.  
“yeah…” joohyun lied, decided to try her luck, maybe if she tried to bring joy to the vampirism field she could get something from her. “do you like it?” 

joy had a stone cold face on that didn’t indicate anything at all. “the vampires are too ugly in it.” smirked, going back to her machiavelli assignment. 

joohyun did what she had to do: observed her reaction to the question, and noted.

 _she knows vampires who aren’t ugly?_  
_is she calling herself a pretty vampire? (self-centered. that’s typical.)_

joy wasn’t being a total dick today, surprisingly, so joohyun figured it wouldn’t hurt to try to know more. 

“if you were a vampire, would you report to an evil master?” joy’s eyebrows were furrowed, but she remained quiet. “as in the vampires in buffy, i mean!” clarified. 

“what makes you think i don’t already do that?” she watched with a growing smile joohyun’s mouth fall a little open, is she confessing? “yes, i do report to an evil master: nietzsche.” giggled. joohyun’s features fell off. 

only then she realized how she was exposing herself by openly asking a suspected blood-sucking monster what the said monster thought about its own species. what if joy already figured out joohyun was getting into her business too much? would she finish her off? was she even capable of it? no. she refused to be afraid of someone who singed fergie in the shower everyday. 

“what is it with the sudden interest in what i think?” queried, and joohyun could tell she wasn’t being ironical or preparing herself to say something stupid to her, she was genuinely curious. 

“you’re… unusual. it’s good to hear from someone who isn’t too much like me, i suppose.” joohyun tried to remain calm, as if her mind wasn’t flooding with images of joy murdering her in cold blood. 

“my opinions enlighten you. that’s ok, you’re welcome.” this time the playful tone was there, and when joohyun brought herself to look at joy, she was smiling. 

“sure.” limited herself to say, but she ended up smiling too. 

“do you think she actually murder people?” seulgi asked. they met up at the library again, originally to try to get their heads out of this for a moment, but the subject came up again. “she could steal blood bags from hospitals or something, right? i saw it on the vampire diaries, like, repeatedly.” 

“maybe. if my theory about the hideous green-juice is right, that explains how she can stock it.” joohyun agreed. “besides, she wouldn’t stain her fancy clothes with blood by bitting on people.” said, matter-of-factly. 

“the way you sucked me in your weird conspiracy theory scares me sometimes.” seulgi confessed. joohyun knew that seulgi was as invested in this as herself, in fact, last night her friend texted her, two in the morning, with _vampire fun facts._ “do you think joy knows we are playing van helsing on her?” 

“sometimes i think she knows, but mostly? she seems as oblivious as a puppy.” answered, and seulgi quirked an eyebrow in response.

“puppy is… incredibly adequate.” admitted. and joohyun could fully confirm: joy acted like it. she was reckless, she didn’t care about making a mess and, at nighttime, had a lot of energy to spend. and there was a certain part of her who didn’t have the guts to acknowledge that she was kinda _cute._

“if we confirm that she is, indeed, a _you-know-what_ …” joohyun kept down “what should we do? i mean, does the usual stuff work?” 

“wooden stakes? crucifixes? holy water? we won’t know until we try.” seulgi’s gaze was on a random art book, but she met joohyun’s eyes soon after “if you plan on killing her. do you?” 

“i don’t think so, no. just because she’s a demon she doesn’t, necessarily, deserves death penalty, i’m not in the catholic church after all.” joohyun reasoned, shrugging.

“i thought you said she should, and i quote, _face the guillotine_ for making a mess in the bathroom, weeks ago.” mocked slightly. 

“yes, that was before i had evidence of her being a fanged, demonic creature.” joohyun addressed. 

seulgi had a stupid grin on her face. “that was before you wanted to get in her pants, you mean.” 

joohyun felt her cheeks warm up and opened a book in front of her, covering half of her face from her friend’s inquisitive eyes. “what? no!”

“right…” said, nonchalantly. “you’re in for the science of it all?”

“i’m serious!” she dropped her book back onto the table and sighed, surrendering. “she’s pretty, i guess. i’ll give her that.” 

“and she being _‘pretty, you guess’_ won’t blur your judgment?” seulgi speculated, and joohyun really took it as an offense, right on her moral compass. 

“it won’t, you know that.” replied. “actually, getting the judgment blurred by a girl being pretty sounds more like you.” the comment made seulgi squint her eyes a little. 

the truth is, not getting any lines blurred while plotting against your vampire roommate would be much easier if that said roommate continued its agenda of being the literal devil. as if joy was making her ultimate move to annoy joohyun, she shifted her manners completely, the convivence got better and she actually made an effort to act more like a human and less like a wild animal, which was, ironically, the last thing joohyun needed. 

joohyun figured that, since she was nicer, she could use that on favor of her research. joy just passed through the door, coming from god knows where, probably carrying on with her vampire schedule.  
“hey, where have you been? it’s late.” and it in fact was, in a way that joohyun herself shouldn’t be awake. 

“out.” and there she was, same old joy. her monosyllabic response didn’t annoy joohyun as much as she thought it would, dealing with the usual joy was easier than the nicer one. 

“not studying.” stated, and she could see joy’s jaw clenching in annoyance, she walked her way to joohyun’s bed, sitting next to her but not too close. 

“now you’re just being nosy, why do you care?” inquiried, and joohyun knew she was being nosy, and she didn’t know why she was being, visibly, a pain in the ass, especially when joy was getting her actions in order in the last days. 

“i don’t. you’re just so… cryptic, all the time.” complained, but joy’s features didn’t change. 

“maybe it’s because i don't want to tell you stuff, have you thought about that, sweetie?” it had been a while since she called her names just to piss her off, but it seemed like joohyun got on her nerves.

“you’re such an idiot.” joohyun could feel her face heating up from angriness, and a grin grew on joy’s face. only then joohyun could realize she got a little closer. 

“and you wanna kiss me so bad, it makes you look stupid.” they had their eyes locked, and joohyun really wanted to talk back, say something clever that she probably had on the tip of her tongue already, but it got stuck on her throat. 

joy shrugged and got up, and joohyun watched her getting her clothes to change and go to sleep, speechless, feeling like the most stupid person on earth. 

after that event, joohyun was decided to out her demonic roommate, once and for all. she tried the basic first: crucifix hanging idly on her wall, which joy didn’t bat an eyelash to. actually, she wasn’t glancing on joohyun’s direction or even her side of the room, ever.

joohyun never pictured her as the type that silently ignored instead of facing it, but then again, there were many things she didn’t know about her, many things that, as stated before, she didn’t want to share.

it was day outside, but the entire room only had the lamp lights enlightening it, joy - obviously - preferred it that way, and joohyun didn’t have the energy to complain, knowing what she knew. 

her now quiet roommate remained still on her side of the room, the only movement was of her eyes, flickering along pages. joohyun went to a break from her studies to fix herself a snack, maybe go out a little, when she spotted joy’s green-juice sitting immaculately on the balcony. she really shouldn’t even consider touching it, not now that she already was on the vampire’s bad side, and didn’t know what was expecting her beyond that, but she was really curious about the whole stocked blood thing, and her thoughts weren’t fast enough to stop her from putting her right hand on it. 

she felt the wind in her face when joy moved inhumanly fast to stand beside her. “thinking about getting into a fit life? don’t.” her tone might have sounded playful, but her face was dead serious, and joohyun’s heart skipped a beat. only then she became hyper aware of joy’s _ice cold_ hand on her’s. 

joohyun gave in, moving her hand off of it. a beat passed. “why are you so cold?” muttered. 

“because the weather is cold.” _and it really was._

“no, it’s not.” she tried on testing her, she thought joy shuddered for a second.

“right, whatever, i’m going out.” she stretched her arm to grab a leather jacket hanging by “you’re insufferable these days.”

“what are you gonna do? walk out in broad daylight?” joohyun caught her attention just before she passed the door, and when joy stood still there for a moment, then turning on her heels, joohyun gulped.

“what did you say?” joohyun gazed at the floor, on a lack of words, she brought herself into a situation she wasn’t sure she could get herself out of. “what would, exactly, be the problem for me getting out?” asked again.

“i think you know.” said, this time with conviction enough to not sound like a whisper. 

“and i think you don’t have any idea what you’re getting yourself into.” joohyun would shudder, but she was too caught up on the feeling of finally cornering joy. she didn’t have anything to say on the daylight matter, because it was true. 

joy didn’t wait for any answer before getting out of the dorm, but joohyun doubted she would go too far, since the sun was on its peak. she smiled to herself, it was a victory after all. 

the excitement quickly turned into ashes on her mouth when she realized that joy kind of threatened her, in some way. she knew what joohyun knew, now she was sure of it. joohyun gave up her element of surprise. joy could actually kill her now. 

“i’m sure we can fix it, calm down!” seulgi stressed, holding joohyun’s shoulders in order to make her friend stand still. joy had been gone for a hour and joohyun worried that the taller girl was already plotting a way to hide her body after the inevitable murder, so she called seulgi. it wasn’t the best idea.

“yes, we can. if i move out of this country in the next thirty minutes i might survive.” she dropped onto her bed, hopelessly. seulgi sat next to her with a nervous smile on her face. 

“come on, i’m sure she is a reasonable vampire. we can make a deal like… steal blood bags for her or something.” 

“or we can serve as a human blood bag, which she might enjoy more.” she sighed. 

“well, i can sneak out of here real quick and pretend i don’t know shit.” seulgi jokes, trying to light up the mood, the usual thing she did while in panic. and joohyun did laugh, a type of laugh that sounds like despair in disguise.

after that, seulgi insisted on staying on joohyun’s dorm the whole noon, and when the night came, she still didn’t want to be alone, even though joy coming back so soon at night wasn’t likely, she didn’t liked the idea of taking chances. the one night sleeping at seulgi’s dorm turned into another and joohyun wasn’t ashamed of admitting that she was avoiding joy, any other rational human would do the same, _except bella swan, maybe._

it had been about one week out of her own dorm, only coming back for clothes and essential things when she was sure joy was spotted out of the place, when seulgi and joohyun decided to eat something at the uni cafeteria, which usually would be loud and crowded even though it was already dark outside, but since the holidays were coming many students were away. 

being in a place where joy could come up at any second made her nervous, she still felt like she would kill her, given a chance, but above all of it, she felt _eager_ to see her, a feeling that, under actual circumstances, bordered suicidal. knowing for a fact that she was a vampire gave her a million of doubts, and she was incredibly curious. 

“you shouldn’t worry anymore, soon enough you’ll be out of here.” seulgi drew joohyun’s attention, while she forked the sliced fruits among her cake. “moreover, you could ask for a new roommate when classes restart!” and joohyun smiled softly, seulgi was too positive. 

joohyun didn’t have the heart to tell her that, despite changing roommates, joy still could hunt her down if she wanted to, so she just shooked her head slightly. but then again, it had been quite a lot of time since things happened, and no homicidal girl came looking for her yet.

seulgi checked her phone once and her eyes widened, cleaning her mouth with a napkin and collecting her stuff from the table. “i forgot i have an assignment to drop off, i’ll see you.” 

“see you.” 

joohyun watched seulgi’s jogging when her friend turned around, as if she forgot something. “and if anything happens, call me!” she pointed at her for emphasis. 

joohyun saluted her. “yes, ma’am.” and seulgi looked satisfied enough to go on. 

she didn’t stay too long in the cafeteria after seulgi left, grabbing her things and heading out only minutes later. it was foggy outside and a bit chilly, joohyun embraced herself regretting the fact that she and seulgi had to go to the right wing of the campus for their lunch, which led her to walk through the streets all the way to the dorms again. 

it was only when she reached a specially darkened part of a street near the dorms that she felt weirdly observed, leading her to faster her steps while paying attention to the path her feet walked through. she only took her gaze out of the ground when she bumped into a stranger, shuddering when the blade of a tiny knife shone, reflecting the light of a distant street lamp. 

she barely caught a glimpse of the stranger’s face when a figure jumped - literally, from somewhere above her - him. one of its hands covered the stranger’s mouth from behind while it sucked on his neck, he struggled briefly before dropping, boneless, to the ground. 

“in case you’re wondering,” the figure spoke, and joohyun realized it was joy’s voice, which made total sense. “he’s not dead.” she poked his body with the tip of her shoe “just passed out due to lack of blood.” 

“what the…? why did you do it?” almost screamed, not certain if he was really alive.

joy sighed, stepping in the light of the street lamp. now joohyun could see blood dripping from the sides of her mouth and staining her coat. “call me old fashioned, but when i see a damsel in distress i feel the urge to play hero.” joohyun still observed the man’s body, shivering for a moment. “you must be freezing, come on.” 

joy started walking ahead of her, but stopped the second she realized joohyun wasn’t keeping up with her, at the sight of the taller one waiting for her she finally was able to move. they walked silently next to each other, joohyun tried to process the fact that she just saw joy feeding, _saw a vampire feeding!_ and joy seemed happy to keep it quiet. 

joohyun didn’t even realize they weren’t in seulgi's dorm, her providential room, until she stepped on her shared dorm with joy. by that time she already felt calmer than before, somehow. 

she watched joy facing herself in the mirror, trying desperately to clean the stain on her clothes with a wet napkin. joohyun stood up next to her before she could even think of it. “you’re only spreading the blood” she took it from joy’s hand, feeling once again how cold she was, something she probably wouldn’t ever get used to. 

“that’s why i hate biting.” the way she locked eyes with her and how close joohyun got in order to take the napkin away from her made her feel weird in some way. she took a step back.

“i thought you were mad at me.” joohyun confessed in a low tone.

“i was, i thought you were… disgusted.” she broke their eye contact, and joohyun might or might not have imagined a soft blush on joy’s cheeks. 

“by what?” 

“ _me._ ” she muttered, in a way it was barely hearable. 

“i don’t think disgusted is the proper word.” she felt an unusual need to comfort her. “i’m curious, above all.” 

joy’s features seemed to light up a little. “curious? how so?” 

joohyun sat on joy’s bed, the nearer thing to her, thinking about how to explain exactly what went through her mind without sounding like she was creepy.

“i just… i wanna know things about you. how many years did you live? when you ‘died’? is joy even your baptism name? how you… _turned_ into what you are today?” she vented. joy sat right next to her after a while. 

“one hundred and ten, around the year of nine hundred and twenty, park sooyoung,” she smirked, slightly. joohyun missed it. “someone turned me, obviously.” she directed her gaze to somewhere other than joohyun’s face “i was murdered on a ball, _how tragic._ but the concept fits me.” her face fell off, just a little, and joohyun wouldn’t notice if she wasn’t so damn focused on her. “i guess some random vampire took pity and turned me, they used to do theatrical stuff like that.”

“do you like it, being a vampire?” she asked the only thing that remained uncertain. joy looked as she was pondering the question, then looked at joohyun again.

“i think any form of existence is a little miserable,” _of course, nihilism._ “but it’s ok. i could’ve lived worse during the eighties if it wasn’t for my vampiric gorgeous skin.” she smiled widely. 

the moment faded away, but both of them remained still, in a comfortable silence joohyun thought she only could share with seulgi.

"thank you," the taller one looked at her and joohyun gave her a meaningful look "for the answers, saving and all." 

“any time.” she stood up, and joohyun guessed that she would start her bedtime rituals before going to sleep.

“and joy…” drew her attention to her once more. “i think you’re the absolute _opposite_ of disgusting.” her heart warmed up by the sight of joy’s shy smile. _shy, can you believe it?_ “even though you can be a pain in the ass sometimes.” her smile remained.

“you’re such a flirt.” and disappeared into the bathroom.

“so she saved you, edward cullen style?” joohyun could tell seulgi was excited, although she tried to contain herself. she came to seulgi’s dorm to tell her it all and ended up posing for her, _it’s urgent_ , she said. “wow that’s… thrilling. you two are like buffy and spike now.” 

“hey! that was just a very much friendly saving.” she tried to keep still under seulgi’s trained gaze.

“i can see not even you believe it, just by your voice.” she continued on the scrabbles “i think, since she didn’t murder any of us, that you two look cute together.” joohyun tried not to react to the commentary. “besides, having a friend who dates a vampire would be nice.” 

she took her time to consider her friend’s words. “i don’t even know if she’s interested, you know.” 

“i’m sure she is, hyun, you’re _beautiful._ ” she smiled one of those sunshine smiles of hers. “unless she has her head too up in the clouds by being too damn tall, she must’ve realized.” 

when joohyun got back into her dorm that night, she was greeted with soft, dreamy music echoing all around, and joy looked dazzlingly, fell-out-of-the-sky, absolutely beautiful, even when all joohyun could see was her back. 

she coughed slightly, to make herself known in the room. “ _the killing moon_ , huh?” and when joy turned to her she just had a _lot_ to take in, she was in a nice red dress and her hair shone under the lights. maybe it was some type of supernatural superpower. 

“one of my personal favorites. i figured it fitted the occasion.” she went closer to her, offering a hand to her, gentleman-like, which joohyun grabbed right away. “may i have this dance?” 

joohyun couldn’t help but giggle. “this song doesn’t even go with slow dancing.” joy drew their bodies closer, rolling her eyes. “what’s the occasion?” 

“nothing, i just…” she sighed, seeming at a loss of proper words. “you were nice to me, can't say that about a lot of people.”

joohyun’s brows furrowed, of course joy wasn’t the most pleasant person in the world, but she could come very close to it, if she tried hard enough. 

“i didn’t say that just to be nice to you, _i meant it_ … i mean-” and then she got interrupted by a kiss. 

joy had one of her hands cupping her cheek, something that joohyun couldn’t even bring herself to notice before, the same way she couldn’t notice before just how soft joy’s lips were, they did look soft, but just the image didn’t made it justice, although she had to almost stand on her tip-toes, _joy took her breath away._

joohyun felt dizzy, and by standing so close to joy she could see every color in her eyes. “i should be nice to you more often, then.” 

she smiled, maybe the most wide smile she ever saw on her. “shut up.”


End file.
